By Elena Price
The weekly grocery shopping bill is many people's biggest expense after housing. While it's difficult to save money on mortgages and rents there are plenty of savings to be made by being careful with food and drink expenditure.
Plan a weeks worth of meals, create a list of ingredients and only purchase these items. By sticking to this no food will go to waste and you will be less tempted to purchase extra goodies. When you are in the supermarket where possible try to purchase "own brand" items. You'll find them much cheaper than leading brands and often the product tastes very similar if not exactly the same.
When you visit your supermarket don't go in hungry. Research suggests that you will spend around 20% more when you food shop hungry as opposed to shopping after a meal.
Buy in bulk. Markets and greengrocers will give good deals on produce if you buy in larger quantities. Supermarkets often have BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offers. Take advantage of these: freeze the extra items for use in the future. Grow your own, find an allotment or convert part of your garden into a veg patch. You'll be surprised by the savings and how good home-grown produce tastes.
Shop around - don't just stick with one shop play the supermarkets against each other. Special offers tend to move from one chain to the next so use price comparison sites to find the best deals before you set off shopping. Buy local. By supporting your local farmers market more money makes its way back to the local economy. Check out old Christmas gifts - there may be food hampers that you have forgotten about full of luxury food and drinks
Try to cook just what you planned for in your recipe, this way you'll only use the ingredients you've bought and not extras. Don't cook too large a portion, when cooking pasta and rice use a mug to measure out the amount needed. Consider taking a packed lunch to work, cook up a bit more of an evening put it in Tupperware and freeze them.
Once you've finished cooking, use up the leftovers. The end of a chicken, cut offs of vegetables can be turned into stock or a tasty homemade soup. Don't buy bottled water or soft drinks. Drink tap water! A water filter will do wonders if your tap water isn't too nice or just leave a glass of tap water in a window for around 30 minutes for the chlorine taste to go away.
Shop around - don't just stick with one shop play the supermarkets against each other. Special offers tend to move from one chain to the next so use price comparison sites to find the best deals before you set off shopping.
The weekly grocery shopping bill is many people's biggest expense after housing. While it's difficult to save money on mortgages and rents there are plenty of savings to be made by being careful with food and drink expenditure.
Plan a weeks worth of meals, create a list of ingredients and only purchase these items. By sticking to this no food will go to waste and you will be less tempted to purchase extra goodies. When you are in the supermarket where possible try to purchase "own brand" items. You'll find them much cheaper than leading brands and often the product tastes very similar if not exactly the same.
When you visit your supermarket don't go in hungry. Research suggests that you will spend around 20% more when you food shop hungry as opposed to shopping after a meal.
Buy in bulk. Markets and greengrocers will give good deals on produce if you buy in larger quantities. Supermarkets often have BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offers. Take advantage of these: freeze the extra items for use in the future. Grow your own, find an allotment or convert part of your garden into a veg patch. You'll be surprised by the savings and how good home-grown produce tastes.
Shop around - don't just stick with one shop play the supermarkets against each other. Special offers tend to move from one chain to the next so use price comparison sites to find the best deals before you set off shopping. Buy local. By supporting your local farmers market more money makes its way back to the local economy. Check out old Christmas gifts - there may be food hampers that you have forgotten about full of luxury food and drinks
Try to cook just what you planned for in your recipe, this way you'll only use the ingredients you've bought and not extras. Don't cook too large a portion, when cooking pasta and rice use a mug to measure out the amount needed. Consider taking a packed lunch to work, cook up a bit more of an evening put it in Tupperware and freeze them.
Once you've finished cooking, use up the leftovers. The end of a chicken, cut offs of vegetables can be turned into stock or a tasty homemade soup. Don't buy bottled water or soft drinks. Drink tap water! A water filter will do wonders if your tap water isn't too nice or just leave a glass of tap water in a window for around 30 minutes for the chlorine taste to go away.
Shop around - don't just stick with one shop play the supermarkets against each other. Special offers tend to move from one chain to the next so use price comparison sites to find the best deals before you set off shopping.
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